Repressed
by cartuneslover17
Summary: They all knew that it was up to Joy to determine the next step. Although regarding EVERYONE was something she often overlooked. While she was, indeed, the boss, the others often felt that her instincts could fault. And not just for Riley, but in friendship as well. Fear wondered, "Does she not care about her? She's as important an emotion as the rest of us..." Hinted Nervous Tears


_**So as most of you already know, I saw the early screening of this movie back on the 16th. Trust me, the movie was SO good I bet the people who were Frozen fans looked at their own movie and barfed. EMOTIONAL FEVER! :D**_

 _ **Anyway, Sadness has always been my favorite emotion, and a lot of people are favoring her more than Joy for the obvious reasons. After seeing the movie, clutching my Sadness plush and letting the tears fall, I just HAD to make a oneshot afterwards!**_

 _ **There are some references to the film, nothing too extreme though. But be ready to feel depressed.**_ _ **You've been warned.**_

 _ **PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!  
_**_

Fear tediously took notes, Joy rambling on that he nearly dropped his pencil for the tenth time. Since coming to San Francisco, she had taken charge like she never had before. And that was an understatement.

"School is happening very soon," she stated in an authoritative tone as they circled around HQ. "While dad's working, we should have Riley and her mom go out for lunch today."

The purple emotion momentarily stopped his writing. "Um, about that-"

She looked at him, smiling sheepishly. "Not pizza this time." Then she continued pacing. "Let's try and find a sandwich shop around here."

"Like the big corporation ones," Anger commented, reading over his paper as he strolled by Joy. "You know, the ones that promise you less calories but more flavor, at a certain price, but you end disappointed anyway?" He rolled his eyes, giving a sarcastic laugh. "Yeah, let's give those a try..."

"Oh, please!" Disgust whined, looking over her compact mirror for the hundredth time. "Why even hang out with mom at all? She's as boring as dad now since we came to this dump!"

Joy stopped in her tracks, looking over at the green emotion in shock. "It's not a dump! The moving van is just running late."

"Practically a week late," Anger grumbled, looking over his paper's headline: **STILL SLEEPING ON THE FLOOR!**

"Besides the point," the yellow emotion waved aside.

"M-maybe Riley could take this moment to just talk with mom?"

Fear, Anger, and Disgust turned and noticed a certain blue emotion standing by the library of manuals. Out of all of them, she was quite the reader. And in spite of her quiet nature, she was the most intelligent out of all of them. Of course, Joy refused to admit that she, their leader, knew nothing compared to Sadness' knowledge.

Said yellow emotion didn't even hear her, Joy's mind distracted by the possibilities and how she could make this another happy day in Riley's life. The other three noticed this. Sadness did, but she just sighed, something she had often done when Joy overlooked her suggestions.

"Uh, Joy?" Fear called, lowering his pencil and notepad. "Sadness has an idea."

"Hmm?" The leading emotion turned and saw everyone glance in her direction.

She spotted the teardrop-shaped emotion look at her hopefully, clutching one of the manuals she just finished reading. Suddenly an anxious feeling groaned at the pit of her stomach, regarding the blue emotion with a slight uncertainty.

The other three looked over to see Sadness shift a bit, almost wanting to hide under her sweater.

"I was thinking maybe Riley and her mom could sort of talk," she said shyly. "You know, about the move and all. I'm sure this change is still hard, and I don't think Riley likes San Francisco at all right now..."

Everyone was looking at Joy now, expecting some sort of comply to this suggestion. The yellow emotion swallowed.

"Not like San Francisco?" She forced out a shrill laugh, trying to conceal her apprehension toward another one of Sadness' unhappy ideas. "Of course she loves San Francisco!"

"This place?" Anger couldn't help but intervene. "Joy, we're in a city! Back in Minnesota things were so much simpler in our simple, little town!"

"We can make things even more simple here!" she insisted, trying to keep her voice steady. "Trust me on this, have I ever let Riley down?"

No one answered that. As much as they wanted to deny that statement, they couldn't actually think of a time when she had been wrong. Of course, all that had been back in Minnesota. But with wanting to keep Riley as her parents' "happy girl", the emotions had no choice. For Sadness, it was no different than before.

However, Fear believed in the blue emotion's instincts. Even though he was unsure about it. Although not entirely unsure compared to almost everything else he felt about.

"You know, Joy," he said casually, tapping his pencil against his notepad, "maybe Sadness is onto something?"

He was met with two different expressions. One that shone with surprise and a small hint of hope. The other with surprise and a small hint of irritation.

"But that's a _sad_ memory waiting to happen!" the yellow emotion protested, frowning just the slightest bit.

He tensed a little, then glanced back at Sadness. She looked at no one, her eyes on the floor as usual.

"Joy," Fear spoke up, turning to her, "maybe just try and-"

But she wasn't listening. She resumed pacing, hands behind her back. Her head held high, she paid no attention to anyone, expecting only the opposite. She didn't need to remind anyone who Riley's "favorite" emotion was since she had been born...

"Right!" she went on. "So as I said, we try and find a new place for Riley and her mom to have lunch! I was thinking maybe Chinese food. Sure, Riley's never really touched the stuff, but hey, first time for everything, right? So maybe we should try something more oriental-"

As she rambled on, Anger and Disgust returned to their own tasks. Although, from what Fear noticed, neither seemed pleased. After all, Sadness had not been the only one whose own suggestions had been shot down before.

Why they allowed Joy to keep leading them on, because their own instincts insisted that this was the best for Riley. Sure, each of them did have a go at the controls, but Joy always took over. Which explained the mass library of gold that was almost too bright for their eyes. As beautiful as it was, it felt undeserving...

Fear stood where he was as he watched Joy continue rambling. She had a habit of talking to herself. And even if no one was listening, she would speak and assume they were hanging on her every word. She expected that because she was the happy emotion; positivity was the number one priority in Riley's life.

To what extent here in San Francisco though?

Anger and Disgust said nothing, not even bothering to argue with Joy. It was pointless. Fear stood where he was, forgetting he was supposed to take notes. He glanced back at the manual section. Sadness was gone.

His single hair stood up in trepidation, and he glanced around wondering where the blue emotion went. His eyes caught sight of two tiny feet that were trudging up the stairs toward the hallway where their rooms were.

Biting his lip, he looked back to see Joy had taken no notice, simply talking to herself. Pocketing his pencil and notepad, the purple emotion abandoned his post and rushed toward the stairs. He nearly stumbled over the first step as he watched Sadness disappear around a corner.

But that didn't stop him. Scrambling up the rest of the stairs, he quickly followed her.  
_

The blue emotion slowed her pace, taking the time to wander down the hallway. She adjusted her glasses, glancing down at the floor as she had usually done. Sighing, she ran her fingers over her glittering blue hair; a habit she had often been doing since they moved to this city.

Lightly combing her hair with her own hand, Sadness neared toward a certain door that would lead to the comforts of her own space. However, just as she was about to reach for the knob-

"Sadness!"

Her head shot up, blue eyes widening in shock that someone had actually followed her here. She turned, even more surprised to find it was the most scared of her friends and co-workers.

Fear grunted, clutching himself over his knees as he exhaled. One of those grand moments when running got the best of him. He lifted his head and smiled sheepishly at Sadness, the latter simply blinking up at him.

"Fear?" she said in an uneasy tone, peering at him closely. "What...what are you doing here?"

He forced a smile that came out like a wince. He held himself behind his back, standing up straight he could have been mistaken for a pole with eyebrows.

"Well, I, uh..." he shifted a bit. "Look, I know Joy was a bit harsh back there."

Her hands fell to her sides, giving him an even more dejecting look than she had earlier. The purple emotion just wanted to smack himself, thinking he might have said the wrong words.

"No, it's perfectly fine," she told him quietly, her voice gentle and almost soothing. "This is Joy. She knows how to take care of Riley. And I..." She brushed her hair once more. "Well, I don't know..."

He looked at her sympathetically. "Oh, come on, Sadness. You're a great help! I mean, what about that time Riley lost at the county fair? And that other kid won the stuffed elephant she wanted?"

When Sadness smiled, it was as if the whole world stopped. Very rare for her to smile so gracefully. And although this was small and still possessed some low self-esteem, Fear liked it. The others would as well. But Joy...she held herself accountable for having the "biggest, brightest, and most fun-inducing" smile anyone in Riley's mind had ever witnessed.

But she had never witnessed Sadness smile like this.

"I remember," she sighed, "Riley cut her finger trying to throw all those darts at a fast rate. And it was the last stuffed elephant too. That was really sad."

Fear gave a soft grin. "You know, that idea you mentioned earlier was actually pretty good."

For a moment, something flickered in her big, blue eyes. They glittered as if everything she questioned would soon be answered. However, it didn't last long as she lowered her gaze, smile disappearing.

"That's not what Joy said," she sighed miserably.

He swallowed. "I'm sure Joy didn't mean-"

But she shook her head. "You should get back to her," she said, reaching for the knob of her door. "Before she realizes her notetaker is missing."

His eyes widened. He reached a hand out, unsure of what to do next. "But Sadness-"

She opened her door, pushing it slightly ajar before looking at him. That familiar glint of grief in her eyes rose once more, and her bottom lip quivered.

"I need to go," she said.

However, before she could take one step over the threshold, she felt a light touch on her shoulder. Slowly turning, she noticed a purple hand resting on her sleeve. She looked up at Fear.

His lips pressed together, his brows knitted together in both worry and sympathy. He tried to smile, but he found himself becoming more nervous at this particular touch. Physical contact with Sadness was hardly met because she often wanted to keep away from others' flesh. At least she wasn't Anger; he would punch him if he even laid a finger on his own.

For that moment they simply stared at one another. For that moment, Fear believed that maybe Sadness would stay a little longer. Enjoy his company as much as he sincerely enjoyed hers.

The others really did appreciate her presence despite they were still unsure of what her job truly was. They really did care about her. So did Joy...to some degree.

But the moment shattered as he noticed something glistening upon the edges of her eyes. Sadness' lips quivered even more. Next thing he knew she pushed his hand away, refusing to look at him as she rushed into her room.

He was met with a door slamming in his face, followed by the loud noise of a lock being turned.

Fear just stood there, completely stunned. Staring at the door, he lowered his head dejectedly.

Was it always going to be like this?  
_


End file.
